


Family of Goodnights

by lizwontcry



Category: Faking It
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-23
Updated: 2011-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-27 22:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/300780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizwontcry/pseuds/lizwontcry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a Goodnight-Dempsey family Christmas, and Tilda is more grateful than ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family of Goodnights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Niamh_St_George](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niamh_St_George/gifts).



It went without saying that getting everyone in the same room was no easy task, but nobody ever accused Matilda Goodnight Dempsey of not embracing a challenge. She felt like it was up to her to make it happen since everyone else was so busy. Not that she had a lot of time on her own hands, what with running the gallery and raising an unruly Dempsey child and taming her hornier than hell husband Davy at the same time. While somehow trying to find a free moment to be an artist, which fulfilled her in a way that none of those other things ever seemed to. But somehow she had managed to get everyone over to Sophie and Phin's house in Temptation, Ohio. It wasn't far from Columbus, where she and Davy lived, and it was big enough to shelter all the Dempseys and Goodnights and Tuckers one house could possibly handle.

  
Matilda loved being at Sophie and Phin's house. When there wasn't the smell of something amazing being cooked in the kitchen, there was the sound of pool balls clacking on the table upstairs. There was always a dog or two running around or settling down next to someone's feet. Steve was getting a bit older now; his muzzle was graying and he moved even slower than before, but he still had the same spirit as the day Tilda took him from his apathetic owner. Lassie had passed away a few years ago and Phin and Sophie were inconsolable. Soon after, they adopted two Collies from the local shelter. Bob and Sadie were a couple of troublemakers, but everyone loved them anyway.

  
There was constant laughter and giggles and shouting and good-natured insults and only just a hint of awkwardness with the men in the house. Tilda wished Davy got along better with his brother in law Phin, but there was this weird constant competition going on between the two of them that she didn't even pretend to try to understand. It gave her and Sophie something to bond over, not that they needed any help. When the two of them met, they had some kind of instant understanding and kinship. Something about fathers who bred them to be crooks.

  
In the Dempsey's living room stood the biggest Christmas tree Tilda had ever seen. As a group of people who never had a traditional Christmas because their families were never settled down enough to have one, a tree was not something they were used to having. Tilda was pretty sure that's why Sophie and Phin got the most expensive, most luscious one available in the lot. They were making their own traditions now.

  
Contributing to the new tradition was Tilda and Davy's son Joshua. After they got married at the gallery a few months after meeting (they would have done it in the closet where they met for the first time, but they thought everyone might get a little claustrophobic in there), they quickly decided that they wanted a family. Tilda swore it wasn't because, at 34, her clock was ticking out of control. She wanted a family with Davy. Someone they could raise and screw up in their own unique way. So they tried. And tried. And tried. Not that Tilda minded trying--it was practically what their relationship was built on from the beginning. But it was frustrating to try over and over again with no results. On her 36th birthday, they decided it was time to consider adoption. And a year later, Joshua came into their lives. He was tiny and had a head full of red curls. Now he was three and basically a constant handful. Tilda and Davy weren't used to having so much responsibility, but they were happy. Tired, but extremely happy.

  
Wes and Amy were handing out gifts from under the tree while everyone else found a seat wherever they could find one. Ethan and Nadine, recently engaged after graduating from college, sat on the floor constantly holding hands. They both had degrees in art history and business management and had big plans of transforming the gallery once again. Tilda wasn't quite ready to hand over the reigns, but she couldn't say she didn't enjoy having someone else take control every now and then. Sitting close by Nadine (who was currently going through a Marilyn Monroe phase) and Ethan was Andrew, the odd man out. He and Jeff had broken up years ago and he hadn't found an adequate replacement yet. Andrew was initially resistant to Tilda's pleas to come to Temptation, saying he didn't want to be a fifth wheel. So Tilda just begged him until he said yes, and that he didn't really want to spend Christmas alone, anyway.

  
"Okay, this is to Joshua, from Phin," Wes said, handing Tilda her son's present. Joshua, who was trying so hard to be a good boy, bless his heart, jumped up and down and shouted, "I got a present! I got a present!" until Tilda finally just handed it to him. He ripped open the wrapping and held his prize in the air. Then he said, "What's this?"

  
Davy looked over at his son's spoils and sighed. "Phin, you got our son a deck of cards? Really?"

  
"Thought I'd start 'em off early," Phin said. "If he's going to fit in, he has to learn the family trade."

  
Tilda both cringed inwardly and smiled outwardly. She knew Phin was just being an idiot, but Davy did not joke when it came to his kid. She squeezed his hand and gave him a look.

  
"Funny, Tucker," Davy finally said. "Just wait until Dillie has a kid, we'll see what kinds of fun things we get her for Christmas."

  
"Can I please find a boyfriend first?" Dillie chimed in. "I hear that's all the rage these days."

  
Dillie, at 18, was in her first year of college at OSU with a full softball scholarship. She was funny and outgoing and unconventionally gorgeous. Tilda was pretty sure Dillie would have no problem with the dating scene. Now, of course, she was more focused on sports than anything else. And she adored her little brother Dempsey, who was just now entering the first grade. He was sitting in her lap now, playing with the race car set Wes and Amy got him for Christmas.

  
Joshua flung the cards open and started throwing them every which way. Tilda sighed but didn't stop him. It was Christmas, after all. If the little guy was amused by throwing a deck of cards around, that was okay with her.

  
Tilda, Davy and Joshua were all squished together on Sophie's recently purchased black leather sofa ("Every mayor needs one!" she had said to justify the purchase) and next to them, on a tiny love seat, were Gwen and Ford. Gwen had put away her crossword puzzles permanently while she and Ford sailed the open seas--when he wasn't doing FBI things, of course. Nobody in the family could still quite believe she married someone from the FBI, but they liked Ford. And Ford liked them, as long as he never found out what they were up to now.

  
Steve jumped on the sofa and nestled in Tilda's lap. Technically Sophie and Finn weren't "dogs on furniture" kind of people, but they were too busy ripping open gifts to notice. And Steve was a rebel who didn't care for human rules.

  
"Soph...for you, from us," Amy said, handing Sophie a present. Sophie grinned and tore open the gift from her sister. Inside the box was a DVD simply labeled "Sophie".

  
"It's a documentary," Amy said cheerfully. "The days of your life. From when Dad used to videotape us with that ancient camera, from our exciting adventure in filmmaking when we first got to Temptation--" Sophie rolled her eyes here--"your wedding, Dempsey's birth, Dillie's high school graduation...everything is here. I thought you might want it before you get too old to remember it all."

  
Amy was now a producer for a small town TV station in the area. She did documentaries and whatever else the muse whispered in her ear when she had spare time. She had a talent for it, and Tilda always enjoyed watching her creations.

  
Sophie smiled. "Thanks, sis," she said, hugging her eccentric sister closely. Tilda looked around frantically until she spotted her own sister. Eve and Simon were sitting in uncomfortable wicker chairs by the kitchen, looking rather uncomfortable themselves. Eve never bonded with Sophie as much as Tilda did and probably would much rather be in Hawaii sipping cocktails. Tilda smiled at Eve, who blew her a kiss.

  
Beside her, Davy was opening a present from Phin. He chuckled when he saw what was inside. "Coming Clean DVD? Really?"

  
Ah, Clea. As much as they all tried to forget about Clea, she always somehow managed to weasel her way back into their lives.

  
"It's our one shared interest," Phin said. "I thought we could bond over it."

  
"Yeah, I usually bond with men while we watch a dirty movie starring my ex-girlfriend," Davy said.

  
"Yes, thanks, Phin," Tilda said. "What an awesome talent for gift-giving you have."

  
Sophie punched Phin in the shoulder. He said, "Oh, ow, that hurt," in a monotone that made Tilda laugh. Davy gave her the side eye.

  
"To Tilda, from Davy," Wes said, handing Tilda a large present that was half-assed wrapped in newspaper and looking quite disheveled. She returned Davy's side eye.

  
"Don't worry, the gift is better than the wrapping."

  
"It better be," she muttered, mostly joking. She knew three things: Davy wasn't much of wrapper, she would love what he got her anyway, and he always gave her the best presents.

  
"What did Daddy get Mommy?" Joshua asked happily, trying to rip off the newspaper.

  
"I'm trying to find out," Tilda said patiently. "Please get your grubby little hands off Mommy's present."

Davy looked impatient as Tilda carefully unwrapped the gift. When she finally did unwrap it, she couldn't believe her eyes. No way was she looking at what she thought she was looking at.

" _Family of Saltimbanques_? How in God's name did you possibly get this for me? It's a replica, right?"

"It's not a replica," he whispered. "Don't tell anyone. And you don't want to know how I got it."

  
"But it was at the National Gallery," she said, about to faint. "It was IN A MUSEUM, Davy! How--"

"Don't worry about it," he said. "It's yours now."

  
"My very own Picasso," she said, not believing it even though it was right in front of her. It was her very favorite painting of all time and somehow her husband had...obtained it for her.

  
"How will I ever repay you?" She said, knowing the answer.

  
"With you. In your t-shirt. Later tonight."

  
She gave him a lingering kiss that was inappropriate for the amount of people watching, but she didn't care. They'd revisit this later when Joshua was asleep and they had a moment to themselves. Davy was going to get the good lovin' tonight.

 

******

  
After all the presents had been opened and the naps had been taken and the food was ready, the whole group of Dempsey-Tucker-Goodnights sat at the makeshift table Sophie put together out of three different tables. Before they were allowed to consume the mass of turkey and mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and ham and green beans and everything else one could want for a Christmas dinner, Tilda insisted on saying something first. Everyone groaned.

  
"We're sooo hungry, Aunt Tilda!" Dillie said impatiently.

  
"I understand that, Dillie, thank you. I just wanted to say I'm so glad we could all get together. I know it was a hassle, and I know you hate me for disrupting your lives, but sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Now that we have Joshua in our lives, family means more than ever, and that's saying a lot for the likes of us. I love you all, some more than others, and I hope you all will cherish this meal as much as I will."

  
They all raised their glasses and echoed her thanks. Davy squeezed her hand and Joshua snuggled closer to her. As everyone gleefully stuffed their faces with as much food as possible, Tilda took a moment to take everything in. This was her family. This was her life. Well, this and a Picasso painting she wasn't sure they'd all get arrested for eventually .

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I got this in past the deadline...you know, procrastination and all. But I hope you enjoyed the story; I saw that you liked the other Crusie books and couldn't help but add some of the Temptation people. Have a lovely holiday and new year and rock on!


End file.
